KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI
GENEALOGY & LOCAL HISTORY
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State Theater, 1940's
Old Postcards and Photographs of Kalamazoo
THEATERS & ENTERTAINMENT con't
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State Theater, Burdick Street -2000, built 1927
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Kalamazoo Central High School Auditorium - 1948
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Kalamazoo Summer Starlight Theater - 1960's, using the Gilmore's parking lot deck
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Barn Theater, Augusta, 1963
also see http://www.barntheatre.com/
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Hayloft Theater Portage - 2000
| THE HAYLOFT THEATRE BARN WAS CONSTRUCTED IN 1902. FROM 1919 INTO THE 1940'S. THE BARN WAS PART OF A WORKING FARM OWNED BY THE SOLOMON SCHIEDEL FAMILY. THE BARN WAS PURCHASED IN THE 1940s AND DEVELOPED INTO THE HAYLOFT THEATRE BY MARY AND VERN MEYERS. THE THEATRE WAS CLOSED IN 1952. IN 1992, THE HAYLOFT THEATRE WAS RELOCATED FROM ITS ORIGINAL SITE ON EAST MILHAM AVENUE TO THE CELERY FLATS HISTORICAL AREA PREMIERING THE FIRST NEW PERFORMANCE IN FORTY YEARS ON AUGUST 6. THE HAYLOFT THEATRE IS OWNED AND OPERATED BY THE CITY OF PORTAGE. See the Portage Park page |
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| The main entrance to Oakwood Theater and Park, 1909. The sender of the card noted "it looks much nicer here than it really is". |
| First established as Lake View Park - "By
the turn of the century, summer theatre had become the key
attraction at Lake View - so much so that in 1904, the park's name
was changed to Casino Park. Vaudeville, light opera and burlesque
dominated the bill at Casino Park with occasional feature musical
attractions (ragtime was all the rage), minstrel shows and
flickering films from a new gadget called the Kinetoscope." In 1907, Casino park was torn down and completely revamped. Now called Oakwood, a new dance hall, band stand, nickelodeon theater and boat house were erected, as well as the new park's feature attraction - the "Dizzy figure-8" roller coaster. Oakwood's dance hall flourished during the "jazz years" with nightly dances greeting capacity crowds during much of the warm weather season. The Kalamazoo community was given it's first introduction to the miracle of radio when a 1922 concert by Fischer's orchestra (see below) was broadcast from Milwaukee and played to a delighted audience at an Oakwood Park "radio dance." The park was closed in 1927 - DEFUNCT PARKS. |
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Earl Gardner's Band at the Gull Hotel, 1930s or 40s
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Kalamazoo's Charles Fischer's Exposition Orchestra
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Charles Fischer's brother, Burton owned a music publishing company in Kalamazoo |
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Museography
Kalamazoo Valley Museum publication Volume 3 • Issue 2 ••• Winter 2004 KALAMAZOO ORCHESTRAS "And the Band Played On...In the late 1890s, Charles Fischer organized Fischer’s Globe Trotters, a band that gained not only local but national and international fame as well. It traveled the world, performing in many well-known nightspots as well as on several round-the-world cruises. On a 1930 cruise, Albert Einstein sat in with the band and played violin for several songs. Although the musicians changed, the band played together for nearly 50 years. Charles Fischer’s brother, Burton, put Kalamazoo on the musical map as well. An original member of the band, Burton Fischer founded the Burton E. Fischer Publishing Company, a leading publisher of sheet music in the 1930s." |
